LOS ANGELES, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Air Force test fired an intercontinental missile from a base west of Santa Barbara in Southern California early on Monday.

    The launch produced a spectacle that could be visible in Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire.

    The Minuteman 3 was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base during a six-hour window that started at 3:01 a.m., carrying three unarmed re-entry vehicles that hit their targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, some 4,200 miles (6,720 kilometers) away, the Air Force said.

    It said the launch was an operational test to check the weapon system's reliability and accuracy.

    Test data will be used by United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories.

    Such rocket tests in past years have been visible over most of Southern California, and occasionally as far east as Tucson, Arizona. The rockets can cause a glowing exhaust trail that can get blown into strange shapes by upper-atmosphere winds.

    In addition, unburned fuel dumped into the atmosphere can form a colorful glow in a dark sky as sunlight reaches the upper atmosphere. These strange occurrences have triggered thousands of calls to police switchboards in years past.

    Monday's launch will mark the last time that the Air Force Space Command will be in charge of such tests. Its function has been absorbed by the newly-created Global Strike Command, according to earlier press reports.

    A handful of anti-nuclear weapon activists staged a picket outside Vandenberg's gates as the missile was fired.